The Trucker Newspaper - September 15, 2018

Perspective September
15-30, 2018 • 18
Letters
Keep the ELDs, 30-minute break;
use remaining time for what’s needed
My humble suggestion would be keep the
ELDs and that we have a 14-hour workday.
So, keep the half-hour break before 8
hours of on-duty/drive time but the other 2½
hours remaining on the workday can be either
used for on-duty time, pre/post inspections,
or driving time. It will be up to the
drivers and companies to better utilize the
on-duty time.
Some days I pick up a preloaded trailer
and go — not much on-duty time lost. Other
days the loaders and loading company just …
keep me there for one, two, or three hours.
But on many days, I have more on-duty
time remaining versus driving time. So just
shift any leftover on-duty time to driving
time. I could really use it and it won’t take
me beyond the 14-hour workday. Either that
or just call us interns like at a hospital and
work us 28 hours a day, because fatigue is
not a factor at hospitals and apparently human
life is cheap there.
— George S. Ingram
Driver says ‘all in’ on ELDs because
of his safety record when using them
After 27 years of driving both local and longhaul,
coast-to-coast with no citations, violations
or accidents in a CMV, I am all in on ELDs.
I’ve used them for the last 10 years and
because of experience with them and my
safety record, the company I now work for
asked me to come into the safety department
last year to help with the transition.
The 40-plus drivers that I now manage
and help at first complained but now tell me
that they are getting more rest for the same
pay. So the only thing that I can see that
needs to be addressed is driver pay, first and
foremost. Then detention time and poor planning
by dispatch.
Shippers and receivers still don’t care
how long they hold a driver for and then dispatch
still makes promises that their load will
be there yesterday. Then drivers are told to
get it done or lose your job!
With the driver shortage growing, drivers
have to understand that they now have control.
Demand higher pay for a 14-hour day.
Work smarter, not harder. Drivers should be
paid for every mile they drive and every minuet
they wait, period.
Keep the ELDs; the days of lying on paper
are over. I know I will get a lot of sh**
for this from older drivers, which I am, but to
them I say: “Look at your CDL. Does your
company’s name appear on it?”
That is the only true resumé you have, so
protect it. Your name is always first to appear
on a citation and your personal CSA score
takes a hit.
Think about it: Drivers are in control,
drivers are in control, drivers are in control,
See Letters on p19 m
Martinez has personality, listening ear for U.S. truckers
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Eye on
Trucking
What a breath of fresh air.
With the September 2014 departure of
Anne Ferro as administrator of the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the
agency’s highest-level exeuctive, at least in
our opinion, went into hiding.
That’s not to say the agency was dormant.
It worked its way successfully through
the electronic logging device mandate, despite
vehement opposition from the Owner-
Operator Independent Drivers Association
and its primary Congressional ally, Rep.
Brian Babin of Texas.
What was missing for three-and-a-half
years, was personality.
We will hasten to say that not all effective
managers necessarily exhibit an outgoing
personality, but in the case of the FMCSA
administrator, it is a big, big plus.
Ferro was known for her ability to mixand-mingle
with her primary audience —
professional truck drivers and their counterparts
in the motor coach industry.
On numerous occasions at truck shows,
we saw her talk to driver after driver, answering
questions until everyone received an
answer.
Granted, the answer might not have been
what the driver wanted to hear, but each of
them went away knowing someone had listened
to them.
After Ferro left, T. Scott Darling III was
Why aren’t company drivers dumping
this problem in their companies’ laps?
Use your ELD to your advantage and forget
about personal conveyance. Tell [them] you
will not break the law. You’ve been brainwashed
into thinking it’s [parking] all your
problem. It’s not. It’s theirs, lock, stock and
barrel!
— Tom Puckett
named interim administrator and finally, administrator.
While a consummate professional, he
never exhibited the personality of his predecessor.
Once he attended a trucking show incognito
wearing a hat and trench coat.
He may have been trying to snoop on
driver conversations, but that’s not the way
to reach out to the men and women who drive
big rigs up and down the nation’s highways,
and who are part of one of the most regulated
industries in America.
Enter Ray Martinez.
We might even call him the Mr. Rogers of
trucking. (We don’t know, however, whether
he owns a sweater.)
At first impression, he’s outgoing, personable
and reachable, and he’s stepped right
into the fray about flexibility in the Hours of
Service regulations.
The first glimpse of Martinez’ personality
came during his Senate confirmation hearings,
where he was at ease and answered
questions without hesitation and with candor.
And without hesitation he agreed to be
interviewed for a cover story for Truckload
Authority, the official magazine of the Truckload
Carriers Association. (The Trucker publishes
Truckload Authority in a partnership
with TCA.)
During the interview, he stressed the importance
of today’s professional truck drivers,
calling them the “front line” of the industry.
He was emphatic in telling drivers it was
important to stay informed about the trucking
industry and that is was absolutely essential
their voices be heard, pledging to them he
would strive as administrator to make their jobs
safer, easier and in a better environment.
A just-released study by Trucker Path says parking, or the lack thereof, is the primary
cause of stress among professional truck drivers and that in some respect, despite the
efforts of the federal government and trucking associations, the situation may have
worsened. Are you having more problems finding parking than you were one year ago and
if so, why do you think that is?
It’s true. Some places and states frown
on truckers. It’s terrible to see drivers
take a chance with their lives on the side
of the interstate. That’s if the state or city
or county lets them park on the side of the
road. It’s horrible to find good parking.
— Lewis O’Donohue
(Drivers appear to have taken him up on his
message as we will see later.)
Martinez further displayed his style when
he called a telephone news conference to announce
the agency’s Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking on possibly making changes
to the current Hours of Service regulations,
partly in response to pleas from drivers and
motor carriers and primarily around the need to
allow flexibility in the sleeper berth provision
and the need to eliminate the required 30-minute
rest break.
The current iteration of HOS is almost 15
years old, he noted, and the agency needs input
from drivers and others involved in the
industry.
The industry has changed and it’s time to
see if HOS needs to be changed, too, he said.
The ANPRM signaled the agency’s intent to
further listen to industry stakeholders, he said,
not promising for sure that changes are coming,
although we’d say there’s a 99.9999 percent
chance that parts of HOS will be changed.
Just over a week after announcing the AN-
PRM, Martinez flew to Dallas to meet drivers
and other constituents face-to-face and hear
what they had to say about the current HOS
and what would make it better.
He also held a roundtable with reporters
while in Dallas at the Great American Trucking
Show.
A sign that truckers believe Martinez will
listen quickly became evident.
Within one seek after announcing the AN-
PRM and asking drivers and other industry
stakeholders to comment, almost 1,000 responses
had been logged into the record.
Only time will tell, but it sure appears that
personality, and we hope responsiveness, have
one again taken up residence at FMCSA. 8
If I stop at 2 o’clock in the afternoon I
find parking. After that it’s horrible. I ran
late this week. Looking for a spot after
22:00? Good luck. Barely found a spot. It’s
much harder today, than last year.
— Yvonne Lander
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